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Waking Up in Vegas
Las Vegas More than just dazzling lights and glittering resorts, Las Vegas is one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. Gambling is a staple, of course, but there's a trend towards theme parks, attracting millions of visitors each year. Erupting volcanoes, pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty are the more elaborate images of Las Vegas, but there are also parks, art displays, museums, and quiet neighborhoods populated by people representing every state in the union. Plentiful jobs, no income taxes, and a booming economy contribute to the burgeoning population, but despite the gaudy reputation, gambling is not the main employer here; it is the federal government via Nellis Air Force Base in the northern part. Outside the city and to the south are Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and the Grand Canyon. Cybertron is in a crisis, Retoris is still in ruins, and the Cons are on the move. So why is Velum in Vegas? A good question, though one with an answer as simple as she needed a place to go for a moment of downtime, if only for a few hours before getting back to work. With no interest in the games of chance on the casino floor just a few feet away the Nebulan instead sits at the bar, as usual, nursing a cheap beer while going over news and intel on her handheld device. Whatever it is she's reading must not be good judging by the mild grimace on her face, Velum grunting as she taps in something. "Hrm, they should've gotten to work on that sector hours ago..." Ah, Las Vegas. 'Sin City', or so the humans liked to call it. If there was ever a good place on Earth to get a drink and take some much-needed time off, it was here. So why is Blowpipe here of all places, with all the upheaval on Cybertron as well as throughout the galaxy? Well, mainly because his Targetmaster partner, Triggerhappy, is currently circuit-slab bound in the repair bay at Darkmount and actually quite near death. The medics have been scurrying back and forth cycle in and cycle out just trying to keep him stabilized until someone with more skill could find the time to fix him up. They know how valuable he is to Buzzkill and Shockwave, so they're frightened out of their wits to try doing it themselves for fear they'll accidentally make his situation worse. As for Blowpipe, he's been trying to act like he isn't worried, but...well, he just needs a few drinks so he can get things off of his mind. Things like what command would do to him if Triggerhappy didn't make it. He might have to speak to Zarak about it--not that his brother was likely to care even after all Blowpipe done for him. The Nebulan wanders into the bar and inadvertantly sits himself down next to Velum as he calls the bartender over to order himself a drink. What are the chances the sibling of Zarak would sit himself down beside a fellow Neb? And one on the opposing team, no less? Who knows, since a lot of convenient things tend to happen in this universe, but it still surprises the hell out of Velum when a familiar voice hits her ears. Immediatly she closes the application on her device to keep from any prying eyes and jerks to head to look at the man beside her. She thought right, it's him! Frown deepens into a scowl, Velum sniffing in a condescending manner as she eyes him, speaking in a casual tone laced with disgust. "Blowpipe. Fancy seeing you here." Giant metal hand scoops up her beer that she takes a pull of before speaking up again. "Your partner get lost or something?" A rather fruit-filled cocktail with an umbrella is set down on the bar not too far from Velum, but the seat appears to be empty. "Here ya go," the bartender comments without batting an eye at the vacant spot. Well, it seems vacant, anyways, until a small black and violet something jumps from the bar top right into the drink with a little splash and a cry of 'YAHOO!'. "You will unhand me this instant! I have never been so insulted in my entire life! I'll have you know that back on Nebulon, I was one of the fascinating elite! One of the rare harbors of intelligence and economic stability! And your claims that I would lower myself to such incredible depths as 'cheating' only serve to prove my point about this establishment! That it is unworthy of my grand attention and, furthermore, that I will be writing a VERY strongly worded letter to the proprietor of this establishment concerning the physical manhandling practices of their security officers and --" By this time security has dropped Rev off near the bar and have turned to head back to the casino proper, where they will continue to do their mighty duty. "I swer to Nebulos if I ever get my hands on those two again..." Rev turns and takes a moment to crack the knuckles of one hand into the open palm of the other. Wait for it. Waaaaaait for iiiiiiiiit. "OW! Son of a Nebulon!" Meanwhile at the bar... "Your name is Singe?" a trio of tall, blonde, and busty women are circled around the Nebulon, completely fascinated. It's the Tall one asking, while she touches Singe's hair. "Do you all have some crazy names?" Singe just smiles, passing his drink off to the Blonde one. "It's more of a nickname, as you humans would call them. But nicknames are extremely important on my planet: consider it the idea of having done something so important, it's worth defining you by for the rest of your life." Busty, the third, makes doe eyes up at the Decepticon agent. "And what did you do to get the name Singe?" Singe just smiles at that, adjusting his high collar ruffled jacket. "Do you know the human story of Icarus, my dear? He flew too close to the sun, and the sun burned him." He takes a drink, muttering... "And no one will ever fly that close to me again." "What was that last part?" Blonde lights a cigarette. His mask of bravado picks right back up with a wink and a smile. "Nothing you need to worry about, my precious girl." Blowpipe turns and glances momentarily at Velum, then turns away with disgust. "And why would I tell you that? It's not as if it's any of your bussines, Corporal." The bartender arrives with his drink, and he sips at it. "What are you doing here, anyway? Wasting time playing casino games and drinking, hm? How typical." "Oh come on," says a tiny voice from inside a coconut shell. "Everyone has to have a little R&R *sometime*." Okay, fate must really have it out for her today. Four Nebulans and an Insecticon in the same room? What are the chances! Blowpipe's answer gets a wry smirk from Velum who waggles the end of her beer bottle his way. "That's Captain now. And I'm here for my own reasons, don't you really. Just need a moment of respite from all the trouble you Cons and traitors cause." Dear Nebulans Gods does she wanna deck him in the face. But she keeps her cool, instead diverting attention away a moment at two more familiar voices. Rev is actually a welcome face when eyes land on him, offering a light smile his way. But it drops when some fabulous hair catches her gaze. Ugh. Singe. Is she jealous from seeing him surrounded by bimbos? Not in the least. In fact she's just pissed in general to see him at all, Velum promptly turning back around in her seat and hoping he doesn't see her. About to take another drink and harrass Blowpipe some more, she pauses instead at the voice from the tropical drink, arching a brow and reaching over with longer, mechanical arm to have a peek at it. Not like anyone's sitting there. To her surprise it's a tiny bug! Yuck! With an easily recognizable colorscheme too. "Ugh, I didn't know they served bugs in this place. Believe this is yours." She asides to Blowpipe, sliding the shell his way, making the contents slosh a little. "You will be hearing from my lawyer! Just... as soon as I find one! But then you'll be hearing from him! Or her! I'm an equal opportunity suer!" Rev is still shaking his fist at the security jerks that threw him out of the gambling section and he's finally turned his attention to the bar. Just in time to miss fabulous hair fires and things of that nature. He winces as the pain in his hand also seems to be coming back some, before he moves to find himself a seat at the drinking location. "Well, I never..." So oblivious to the fact that he's practically surrounded by Nebulons and an Insecticon, Rev immediately just orders himself a drink and reaches into the pocket of his coveralls to come out with a small data pad. Time to start working some figures. Oh Obliviousness. "Now. Let's see if I can't figure out how to make a microwave out of Moira..." "He has a running line of credit," the bartender says to Velum, pointing at the bug in the drink. "Used to be one of my best customers, ALWAYS with the appetite. I'm glad to see him again." Kickback is interrupted from feasting on a marachino cherry when his drink is pushed over. "Oh now that was just rude, Captain. I'm not trying to ruin *your* fun." Blowpipe smirks unpleasantly. "Oh, captain, eh? Well, congratulations. What did you do, might I ask? Assist some human juveniles by rescuing their pets from trees?" he scoffs, looking down at the shell with Kickback in it. Deciding to ignore it, he continues, "Hmph. You have quite the nerve, calling me a traitor. Technically you are the one who betrayed Nebulos by joining forces with Earth Defense Command, despite the fact that you are Nebulan, not human." Velum just rolls her eyes at Kickback's remark. "Haven't had fun in a long time, so you wouldn't be ruining anything, Insecticon." She just hopes he doesn't get the urge to transform to his bigger mode and start to chomp down on the place, as Insecticons tend to do. That'd certainly put a damper on her day. Blowpipe's comment has eyes narrowing at him a little, lips skewing faintly. "More like doing my job and kicking your asses whenever I can. Not that it's that difficult." That last bit gets a nasty sneer from her. "And you do realize you don't have to be human to join, right? Besides, how else would I be able to go toe to toe with you and your partners, if not for their exos? ..Or would you prefer to duke it out in person?" She eyes him with steely gaze, metal fingers flexing around her beer, itching to brawl. But again, she holds back for now since they're in a neutral zone. "Rev." She speaks up suddenly, not turning to the fellow Neb down the bar. "Why not come join us over here, yeah?" She'll feel a bit better with backup close by. Kickback looks up from his cherry. "You haven't had fun in a long time? That's ... kind of sad. Even Decepticons have fun." "Not now! Not now! I'm planning a most excitable attack formation for the next time I come face to face with that sorry excuse for a Nebulon: Singe!" It is probably a shame that Rev has not yet noticed that Singe is nearby. Though, as he looks up from his data pad his eyes fall upon the likes of Velum and there's only a moment to linger and pause. Gawking Mode: Activated. Scanning... Result: Wowza. Ahem. With the clearing of his throat, though, Rev finds himself popping up from his seat, scooping his data pad underneath his arm and idly taking steps in that direction. "However, it would be my great pleasure to perhaps spend some quality time with you, Captain, to discuss these attack methods in a more secret--" REV! "--secure! I mean, a more secure location." Rev's eyes cut around with paranoia attached to them, as he kind of just notices Kickback, Blowpipe and Singe all at once but doesn't really register their placements as he's much too busy trying to intellectually impress the Captain Vel-- wait. Blink. Blink. "Avast! Moira!" Uh oh. This could get weird. And pointy. He's making with the finger pointy! Singe, of course, knew everyone would be here. He was here for Velum, but one doesn't work directly under the Decepticon Director of Intelligence without knowing the comings and goings of fellow Decepticons like Kickback, or even fellow Nebulans like Blowpipe. On his end of the casino floor, he keeps an eye on the group leaning back against the bar. "Do you know those other Nebulans, Singe?" Blonde asks him. He nods. "I work with that one, actually." He gestures. "His name is Blowpipe." He smiles, and leans into Busty. "Don't ask what he did for that name, darling." And that's when he hears it. The name. A shudder waves through the Nebulan as he waves a bartender over. He's going to need a few more drinks. Blowpipe rolls his eyes at Velum. "A clear statement of the obvious." he says in reference to the lack of a human requirement for joining the EDC. "You've made it your job to join forces with the humans and work in conjuction with the Autobots against your own people." Well her own people such as Zarak, but Zarak just happens to be the one in charge on Nebulos. Therefore he represents Nebulos. Therefore Velum is a traitor. Simple logic! And then Rev makes his way over. He glares contemptuously. "Oh joy...more traitors." he says wryly, taking another swig of his drink. Gaze hangs back on Kickback in his little coconut shell drink, Velum setting him with a level look. "I'm sure you do, since fun for a Con would just be destroying things." Blowpipe isn't helping her nerves much, dismissing his comments with a 'tch' before downing the rest of her drink. "Keep it up, Blowpipe.." A bit curious to see if Singe is still here, Velum spies over her shoulder his way. Yep, still there. She stares him head on with a furrow of brows, giving a look that almost dares him to come over. But Rev pulls attention away from the Targetmaster, his distress making her smirk a little while waving a hand weakly as if to shoo away his worry. "Easy, Rev, we're in neutral territory. They're not gonna start anything. Relax and have a drink." Brawl says, "Uhhhh." "Well, if that isn't speciesist, I don't know what is," Kickback scoffs at Velum. "How very enlightened of you to just *assume* all Decepticons default to being warmongering killing machines that love nothing but destruction. *I* have refined tastes, thank you." "The rum in this blue hawaiian is particularly good." "Relax?! Do you think I could relax even if I knew how to?!" Rev just seems to get more, well, revved up, the more he's told to relax. His data pad gets flailed around a little bit, even though he doesn't make any moves to try and take out any of the enemies that are around this place. "And I will not be having a drink! This facility has some of the worst customer service that I have ever come up against. Therefore, I will not be relinquishing any of my monetary units to them in any form or fashion!" Rev makes sure to announce that loud enough so that if there's any workers of this casino nearby, they can hear the displeasure coming from the Neb. "Perhaps I will just start on my letter!" Oh dear. "I suggest a lot of liquor," Kickback says to Rev. "That usually has a relaxing effect. Among other things." Kickback says, "Ohhh it's been forever since I had a marachino cherry." Kickback says, "I kind of missed the flavor." "Indeed." Blowpipe says, nodding at Kickback. "Though there are certainly quite a few who are." Including his own binary bond partner... not that it's a bad thing. "But, there is a place for those types. They aren't entirely useless, particularly not during a time of war such as this." The Nebulan raises an eyebrow at Velum. "Keep it up and what, Captain? You'll crush me with your exo-suit when I'm in no state to defend myself, and prove to everyone here that you are not much different from those warmongering killing machines you are so eager to insult?" Shockwave says, "Blast Off, report to Darkmount immediately." Blast Off says, "Understood." Singe steps off of his barstool, his entourage standing with him. He chuckles, gesturing for them to have a seat. "I'll return, I'll return... but I do have some business to attend to." He gets the bartender's attention, gesturing to the three. As he steps away towards Velum's rather crowded table, Tall suddenly speaks up. "Has anyone seen Susan?" Singe turns and takes her hand, squeezing it. "Upstairs, love. Resting. I believe she felt rather burned out." That's enough for the girls, who return to their drinks. Singe arrives at the table as Blowpipe tells Velum whatfor. "Are we talking politics already? How boring." Sitting between Velum and Blowpipe, he sniffs at the Insecticon in the glass. "I swear, Blowpipe, if I had any reason to regret joining Zarak's Decepticon movement, it's that we're never rid of these filthy Insecticons. Vile creatures. Much like Rev." He raises his glass to Getaway's Counterpart. Patience wearing thin. Rev's outburst has her giving a tired sigh, Velum taking a second to rub her forehead. "Rev, please, I don't need security kicking me out with you." Ordering another beer she just sniffs at Kickback and returns attention to Blowpipe, who actually gets a soft chuckle out of her. "Exo? Who said anything about that? I meant just us. No suits, no partners. Heh, I'll even take off the arm as a show of good fai- Ergh." She's cut off by Singe squeezing up between her and Blowpipe, Velum fixing him with an icy glare while taking the new beer handed to her and flicking the cap off with robotic thumb. "/Singe/." She says with a faint hiss. "Having fun with the locals, I see?" "Insecticons may be vile, but they also have their place. Why else would Shockwave choose to keep them around?" Blowpipe counters flatly. "Of course you'd say that, Velum. But honestly?" he asks, turning back to the female. "Ask yourself, how much different are you from Singe here, or even myself? Admit it, you want to crush me while you can. You'd love to get your exo-suit and kill me before I could return to my partner. You just fear your friends' reaction to such an act of aggression. You're afraid they'll question you, that they'll see your true colors. But ask yourself, if we were in private, and there was absolutely no chance that any of your comrades would ever find out what you did...what would you do? You would seize the opportunity, wouldn't you?" "I love how we're talked about as if we're not even in the room," Kickback says to himself, outloud, as he begins drinking the blue hawaiian he's swimming in. Coconut shell goes last. Singe smiles brightly at Velum. "I most certainly am. In fact, I burned one of them to death in my suite earlier today. Her friends don't realize it yet, of course, and I haven't told them- why ruin a perfectly good afternoon in Vegas with something like that- but I do fear it makes my social time today rather limited. Someone is bound to notice the smell, after all." He pushes his hair back over his ear and winks at her. Was he joking? "And speaking of fun with the locals, it was a lovely awards ceremony, Captain. You'll forgive me for not congratulating you face to face of course, though it was rather enjoyable to sit next to Red Alert entirely undetected for most of the event. At any rate, congratulations, love. I'm sure Galen and his lot were so, so proud." He glances down at Kickback. "Did you like that, Kickback? I talk like that because I rather wish you weren't. Honestly, I'd rather milk Slugfest than even look at you." He looks around the table for support. "Am I really the only one here that thinks the idea of a talking bug is completely disgusting?" Velum tries to disregard Singe, if only for a moment, to address Blowpipe with a cant of her head. "The truth? I'd love nothing more than to beat you to a pulp. But not with my exo. I'd wanna do it with my own two hands. But here's what seperates us. I woldn't kill you, oh no, I'd much rather cuff you and drag you back off to Nebulos to be judged and sent to rot in prison the rest of your miserable life." And then Singe speaks up again, talking about burning someone, a topic that immediatly has her switching attention back to him, eyes widening a hair. "You.. what?" Even if he is lieing, she wouldn't put it past him. And.. he was at the ceremony?? That's.. that's impossible! The more he talks the angrier she looks, his sentence punctuated by the sharp soiund of cracking glass from her robotic fist tightening arounf the bottle. "Ergh, I think /you're/ disgusting!" She hisses, darting out regular hand to grab his collar while she stands, looking ready to grind his face into the bartop. "Why am I even bothering with Blowpipe when I should really be beating /you/ to a pulp?" "You're one to talk about disgusting," Kickback retorts to Singe. "Captain Velum has the dignity and decency to pilot an exosuit. You, on the other hand, exist as little more than a Decepticon's skin parasite." He finishes eating the coconut, and hops off the bar. Combat: Tiny Grasshopper is no longer apparent in view! Singe just smirks at Kickback. "Vile and ignorant of the evolved state of Master symbiosis. Lovely." When the Insecticon hops away, he waves. "Farewell, Insecticon germ!" And then he's lifted by Velum. Rather easily, thanks to her cybernetic arm. He sighs when she asks why she shouldn't be beating him. "Because you can still fix me, Velum. And you know that." He returns her glare with a rather sad, defeated look. "Ha! See?" Blowpipe grins when Velum grabs Singe with her cybernetic arm. "Just look at you! You're just as violent as we are. You can't even control yourself, even in a neutral zone on the planet of the humans you care so deeply about! And fine, you want to beat me with your own two fists? No one is stopping you." Does he really think that's going to work on her? Though.. it actually does for a moment, Velum giving pause and losing furious expression. She's left staring for a good few seconds before a bit of a grimace returns and she says lowly, puting him down by shoving him roughly into Blowpipe's lap. "..I can't fix you, no one can. You burned away that opportunity, along with everything else in your sorry life." She doesn't care about Blowpipe anymore, not even bothering to answer him as she dips around in her pocket, slaps down some universal credits on the counter for her drinks, and storms off to go punch something in solitude. Sorry, Rev, you're stuck on your own. Blast Off says, "Shockwave. Superion and the Autofools are proving how crazy they really are and are currently wrecking Dis. Cybertron has launched some sort of satellite to the moon in response." Singe just smiles as Velum puts him down. He adjusts his coat, annoyed to notice that some of the ruffles are or more less ruined. And that's when there's a big commotion near stairs leading to the hotel: police, fireman, and EMT workers rushing in, the sound of people screaming. Singe sighs. "Ah. My cue to carry on with my sorry life." He gives Velum a nod. "Always a pleasure, Captain. My regards to Galen." He gives Blowpipe a small salute. "I suppose I'll see you back on the ranch." As Singe walks away from the table, he snaps his fingers to Hairsplitter, who had been sitting nearby, a sidearm trained on Velum under the table. Both walk out against the tide of emeergency workers heading for Singe's room.